What did you do in the garden today?

[Acre4Me]

We call that "angering" a plant. You just tick it off, so it does more of what you don't want!

I finished the hive today. (Half the bathroom floor too. Stopped that when my sinus' told me how much they hated being turned upside down.)

So here is my Top Bar hive. I reserve my bees (local) on Monday.

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Two different types of comb bars. One will be filled with melted wax. The other is a wood start.

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The hive without the roof, the comb starts hanging in place. The comb starts with the red dot are wax, those without are wood. Yellow bars are the followers. They are all clumped together at the moment just so I could measure. They are usually spaced along the hive to determine the bee's living locations. The blue zone is the feeding station. (My hole plugs were still up in the car during photo shoot-but they will control where the bees can enter/exit.)

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The feeding zone. I built it so that it would hold a chick waterer. The dish will have pebbles in it when in use.

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The hive with the roof on. Vent holes for summer. In winter it will have an alpaca fleece pillow to help with hive heat retention and moisture control. Barn square, because every other building on the ranch has one. This one is BeeHive Block.

The floor is an eco floor. 4 inches of cedar and twigs to house beneficial insects that co-exist with bees and keep mites under control.

Hope you enjoyed.
Now back to my knitting.

Your hive looks great! Congratulations on getting it completed.

 

[pennyJo1960]

View attachment 1640639 View attachment 1640636 I cut back my sage. I cut a tunnel in the back for a hawk hideout. The bee’s love the sage. I learned something last year. I would cut the flowers off so it wouldn’t throw seeds...it just bloomed even more! It’s a beast lol.

I wish my sage was that happy

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I'm a little jealous. Around here if you want to set up a hive it has to be bear-proof. There's one brave person down the road that has hives. They are surrounded by 6 foot heavy chain link fencing and an electric fence. All I can do is make sure there are enough flowers in the yard that attract the bees for pollinating. Good luck with your bees.

 

[WthrLady]

I'd prefer the bears. We have two legged bandits. Hives are well hidden and guarded with cameras and lead. We watch out for each others hives and stock.

Bears.
Ugh.
I wanted to do bears when we were in Florida, but I wasn't a fan of the locals flavors of swamp honey, plus bears.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I just picked up a gardening tip for keeping the garden budget-friendly. Using bathroom tissue tubes for seed starter "cups." I used cardboard last Spring when I set up my raised garden beds and it worked phenomenally at keeping weeds out of the garden. I never thought to use the tubes for starting seeds. And, if this is old news to some (or all) of you. Just humor me, I'm excited about the money I'll be saving on this.

 

[WthrLady]

I just picked up a gardening tip for keeping the garden budget-friendly. Using bathroom tissue tubes for seed starter "cups." I used cardboard last Spring when I set up my raised garden beds and it worked phenomenally at keeping weeds out of the garden. I never thought to use the tubes for starting seeds. And, if this is old news to some (or all) of you. Just humor me, I'm excited about the money I'll be saving on this.

Get a piec of dowel that just fits inside the tubes. It makes making the cups much faster and have a stronger bottom.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I'd prefer the bears. We have two legged bandits. Hives are well hidden and guarded with cameras and lead. We watch out for each others hives and stock.

Bears.
Ugh.
I wanted to do bears when we were in Florida, but I wasn't a fan of the locals flavors of swamp honey, plus bears.

I'd rather not attract a hungry bear around my vegetable garden or chicken coop. So I'll continue to purchase locally grown honey from the bee farmers.

 

[WthrLady]

I'd rather not attract a hungry bear around my vegetable garden or chicken coop. So I'll continue to purchase locally grown honey from the bee farmers.

I do not blame you.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Get a piec of dowel that just fits inside the tubes. It makes making the cups much faster and have a stronger bottom.

They don't really need a bottom. Just set them on the reusable plant trays. When it's time to plant outside just pop them into an appropriate size hole. I got this tip from the Old Farmer's Almanac website.

 

[WthrLady]

Cool! I've always done mine, and the newpaper ones with a botoom. I will try without this year to sve even more time! Thanks !